This article was first published by the Halifax Examiner in November 2022, but the underground grab of mineral rights in Nova Scotia by “green hydrogen” entrepreneurs escaped broad public notice at the time. CBC is now picking up on the story of possible hydrogen storage in underground salt caverns in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, so I’m republishing this article about the grab of Nova Scotia’s underground on my website. This way it can also be shared on Meta Platforms, which are blocking media in Canada.
It doesn’t take long to find the thousands of claims that green hydrogen companies have staked on the Nova Scotia Registry of Claims (NovaROC) map, once you realize they’re there.
Since early 2002, at least three companies have been taking out exploration licences covering more than 100,000 hectares (more than 250,000 acres) of Nova Scotia.
Unlike so many of the other exploration licences that cover the province, which are concentrated around historic gold mines and possible deposits of gold and a few other metals, these recent licences are clustered primarily in areas with salt deposits.
“There are no special conditions on these licences,” says Natural Resources and Renewables spokesperson Patricia Jreige in an email. Nor is there a limit to how many licences one company can take out.
Jreige explains that exploration licences are issued for two-year terms, and licence-holders must submit a report of work done and data collected on the claims, and pay a renewal fee that increases the longer the licence is held. The current fee per claim is $10, and an exploration licence can include up to 80 adjacent claims, says Jreige.
Some of the recent licences taken out by green hydrogen operators near Port Hawkesbury are in water supply areas. When that is the case, Jreige says the utility operator is to be notified.
Salt caverns are often used to store hydrocarbons, and Nova Scotians have not forgotten the highly controversial project by Alton Gas Natural Gas Storage project, which planned to flush brine out of salt caverns near Stewiake, and dispose of it into the Shubenacadie River.
There was intense Mi’kmaw opposition, spearheaded by the Grassroots Grandmothers, to the Alton Gas project, and it was cancelled in 2021.
Now, however, underground salt deposits throughout Nova Scotia are being claimed by people eager to get into the production of “green” hydrogen.”

The Nova Scotia Registry of Claims (NovaROC) map showing mineral exploration and mining licences in November 2022.
Continue reading ‘Green’ hydrogen industry takes aim at Nova Scotia’s underground salt deposits